to dawdle along
by kurojiri
Summary: And of course, Valentine's day is the moment and day she fell in love. (Muggle AU)


**Just something made for a Valentine's Day Challenge.**

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She hadn't wanted to seem like a noob; but it felt like the universe was set up with its own mind. Padma Patil had been in this type of situation before. Of empty seats across her in libraries, or in the train rides to and back from work. Her own insecurities had bled over that. Seeing the world, but never actively seeking it out. And it could have stayed that way.

She could have kept it that way too through sheer stubbornness; but her sister knew her too well.

Padma craved for company. Like the school clubs she once joined back during her schooling years. After uni, she had not made any real connections, and it wasn't like she didn't know how, it was more she couldn't fully give her heart out like how her sister had been able to effortlessly. She tended to be more reclusive, and more internal with her own emotions. Sometimes that had been why she had sheltered herself. Didn't go to the parties and pubs that her sister ventured off to.

They both knew if she had been taken there, she would be the type to go to a couch or quiet section and read near a good lighted area (all night long). She knew how to make conversations, but it had been the not having much interest to linger. Boys, girls, it didn't matter; they were all the same. They all wanted to fool around while they were still young to do foolish and reckless things. Padma had seen enough from her sister, who had always been the more daring twin to explore her options. Had listened to all the stories too when they hung out on lazy nights.

But it had started to affect her, with the quiet nights being almost too alone. Sure, she had her sister when they had time from their busy schedules. But she couldn't really escape it, the yearning from her heart. To go to different restaurants for no other reasons but to find new dishes to eat. To maybe start finding a new hobby to fix her hours after work. And maybe, to find a person to just talk. (Books could do only so much since her childhood.)

With February already pressed between her fingers she had woken to the pink, red and all romantic hues thrown into her peripheral vision. The aisle of candy and stuff animals reached the point of Padma almost wanting to skip in and all shopping until March. She never really did have any hardships with the holiday, but there had been days—moments, when she had wondered why the holiday started to sway more people by the years. With her own troubles of communicating with others the month had always developed into a month of self-evaluation. And it had given her a set of answers and questions in that order.

She eventually found herself sitting down alone, on St. Valentine's from one of her favorite diners near her home. It had been somewhat crowded when she had entered, but it still had been warm and safe. The decorations weren't terrible, but it still had done a number for some of the lonelier customers she had passed.

Padma had been about to order her food where she caught a sight, she'd never thought would have been possible. When the door had opened, a single perplexing person came in. She had bright white blonde hair that was a bit frizzy from the rain, her skin was smooth as it were fair, but it had been her eyes. They were silver and bright, it gave Padma the impression that she lived her life her own way, she was deliberately and inherently free from everything and everyone. And probably someone that could out right teach her way to unstick herself from her own life, if she wanted to. She wanted to talk to her, wanted to know why a mere stranger had such a gravitational pull that it had been hard to ignore.

It had been such a divulgence when she sat near her, with her raincoat (a flashy bright neon blue with pink poke-a-dots) neatly folded to her lap. Out came was the strangest combination of a trousers and a blouse that had the same eccentric patterns as her rain coat. Padma was half amused as she was fascinated that such a person could exist; with several other eyes watching her and her own looking back. It was—Padma couldn't find the right word for it. But she had been very impressed at the way she leaned forward to her menu and captured an audience without much effort. She herself couldn't help but feel so overwhelmed by her own heart running mad.

On a lone raining day, where love was adored Padma Patil was sitting a few seats away from the stranger she couldn't stop obsessing at since she noticed her, she just laughed. Out loud too at the circumstances that had been presented to her. She hadn't even talked to her yet, but with just that one first sighting she knew one thing.

It was her first draft of falling in love, and with a complete stranger to boot. She should have been going crazy, should have wanted to bolt; but the strangest thing that occurred instead was that she stood straighter from her seat. And very carefully, she peeled one hand away from her lap while she still had her courage.

"Hello, I'm Padma Patil."

Then the stranger's voice spoke with the kindest and sweetest tone she'd ever heard in her life (Padma could tell that her voice would rewind again in her dreams).

"Hello. Luna Lovegood."

The rest of was history as they chatted the rest of the afternoon that Valentine's Day.


End file.
